And that's why many readers were puzzled by the Washington Post's selection of a photo showing an Oakland police officer petting a kitten to illustrate a story on the protests. The photo, shot by the Associated Press' Ben Margot, ran in Wednesday's print edition on page A3 above a story entitled, "Protesters Wearing Out Their Welcome Nationwide." The AP identified the Oakland police member as "Officer Ruten."

When I was looking at the Tuesday wire service photographs from the Oakland City Hall grounds, the violent protest images were not in the mix because that confrontation had not yet occurred. The late-night, violent protest was in response to the Tuesday eviction by the Oakland police.

Even though the story, written later in the evening, included information about the arrests and tear gas, no news images had moved by our production deadline, probably because Oakland is on Pacific time--a three-hour difference.

The photograph was chosen because it was a visual "moment" in time showing a police officer doing something interesting--not just walking through tents and trash. The wire service images that moved overnight and this morning offer a much different look at last night's protest.